Kerala government to have India's first gender university

Kerala government is all set to open India's first gender university. The gender varsity will be located in Kozhikode district in the campus of Gender Park, an autonomous institution under the state's Social Justice Department.

According to a report in Press Trust of India (PTI), Gender Park CEO P T M Sunish said, "The South Asian Research Centre at the Gender Park will be developed into a full-fledge varsity by next year and it will be the first such university in the country. Gender studies have begun in our country especially in Kerala at a high time. We had focussed on industrialisation, health and other similar streams but did not show much interest in the area of gender equality earlier."

He reported, "Kerala government's first brave step in this regard was the Gender Park. By setting up the Park, our aim was to bring changes in gender-related matters through effective policy interventions. We planned the South Asian Research Centre at the Gender Park as an extension of the plan and the Gender University plan is the latest in this regard."

"The gender university will have international outreach. We are planning to collaborate with a number of global pioneers in gender studies including the London School of Economics. We are also planning exchange programmes with the support of top gender institutes across the world."

The curriculum framework and the syllabus of the proposed university will not be according to the traditional academic patterns. The Social Justice Department is aiming to introduce a completely internationally-oriented academic practice at the new university with the goal of gender equality and empowerment in mind," he concluded.